Team Movie Night
by The King's Soldier
Summary: "Any Friday night on the Bus without a mission was designated as team movie night... Of course, actually choosing a movie was an ordeal in and of itself." An analysis of the movie preferences of each member of the team.


Disclaimer: I own nothing.

Author's Note: This is something that randomly popped into my head for no apparent reason. Hopefully you enjoy reading it as much as I enjoyed writing it. :)

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**Team Movie Night**

Any Friday night on the Bus without a mission was designated as team movie night. Looking back, none of them were quite sure exactly how the tradition started. But once it did, movie night became a sacred ritual that was not to be tampered with.

Of course, actually choosing a movie was an ordeal in and of itself. Each of the six members of the team had a specific type of movie that they preferred. Finding one capable of satisfying all of them was a highly complicated and time-consuming task.

Agent Coulson was a traditionalist through and through. He liked old black and white movies, presumably because they reminded him of the simpler times that he so loved to talk about. Westerns were another favorite of his. The clear difference between the heroes and villains was a commodity not often found in his day job. The fact that the rest of the team could now accurately predict the entire plot of any western he chose within the first two minutes of the movie didn't dampen his enthusiasm one bit.

Grant liked action movies. That came as no great surprise to anyone. This was the man who chose to ease his boredom by disassembling and reassembling guns. Of course he would enjoy action movies. In fact, he would sit through anything so long as it involved guns or explosions. He also had a particular soft spot for movies about war. That was the hook Skye and Jemma used to get him to watch Les Miserables with them. Skye swore her S.O. teared up a few times, but Jemma was too busy sobbing her own eyes out to confirm it.

May was a bit more complicated. She didn't react much during movies (or anything else for that matter) which made it a bit hard to know which ones she preferred. But there was a certain gleam that only entered her eyes during movies about spies or martial artists. Leo said it was probably because the main characters reminded her of herself. The James Bond movies seemed to be a particular favorite of hers, which sat just fine with Coulson. While tiptoeing past his office late one night on her way to the kitchen, Skye was surprised to discover that Coulson and May were still up drinking wine while they debated which Bond actor was the best.

Leo lived and breathed for technology. His favorite forms of entertainment were informative pieces about new scientific discoveries and advancements. The downside was that no one but Jemma could understand half of them. Science fiction was also acceptable, but only in so far as it was scientifically accurate. Anything that was not earned a loud and wordy refutation from Leo. During one particularly inaccurate movie, May grabbed him by his ear and calmly dragged the howling scientist to a supply closet where she locked him up until after the movie was over.

On the bright side, it was Leo's love of science that introduced them all to The Big Bang Theory. At first it was just the younger half of the team who gathered in Leo's bunk to watch the show, but before long the viewings had to be moved to the common room so the older agents could also join in. Humor seemed to be an idea capable of crossing all bounds of preference. It was through the show that the team discovered May's hidden love of comedy. It seemed nearly every episode found Jemma and Leo repeatedly elbowing each other as they tried not to gawk at the grin breaking through May's normally reserved exterior.

Jemma was a lover of mysteries. Period pieces such as those by Agatha Christie were particular favorites of hers. She enjoyed pitting her intellect against the characters in an effort to discover the culprit before they did. Unfortunately that meant that she tended to spoil it for everyone else by blurting out the murderer with half the movie still left to go. Coulson finally created a rule that barred her from speaking unless the Bus was crashing or on fire. Even then, her suddenly wide eyes and cheeks filled with air made it quite clear at exactly what point she solved the case.

But vast intellect aside, Jemma was very much a girl at heart. She loved romance movies. Actually she loved any movie that caused tears and warm fuzzy feelings. Her discovery of Hallmark channel original movies caused her to spend many a night in her bunk with her computer and a box of Kleenex as she cried shamelessly into her teddy bear. Unfortunately, Skye was the only one willing to join her for those "sob fests". And even she could only handle so many before she went in search of Grant and his guns in an effort to counteract what she had just experienced.

Skye's personal taste in movies tended to reflect her own stance against society. She enjoyed stories about people and movements who stood up against tyrannical governments and corrupt systems. In particular she liked watching plucky and witty heroes like Han Solo. Together she and Leo forced the others to sit through a straight marathon of the original Star Wars trilogy. They were all shocked to discover that Ward was actually a closeted Star Wars geek. After that, he and Leo began having intense trivia wars that lasted deep into the night.

It was Skye's love of old Disney movies, combined with everybody else's nostalgia, that led to the cartoons being repeatedly brought back out on movie night. They couldn't watch Bambi, Dumbo, Fox and the Hound, or half a dozen others because the animal deaths traumatized Jemma. But overall, Disney movies seemed to put everyone at ease, especially after a particularly hard day. It was for that reason that Disney became the producer of choice when Skye dragged her laptop and blanket up to May's cockpit on nights that she knew neither of them would be able to sleep.

Seeing as finding a movie to satisfy everyone was practically impossible, the team at one point tried setting up a rotation system where each movie night a different person chose the film. But after a few rounds of confusing science documentaries, old westerns, and shamelessly fluffy romances, they all agreed that maybe that wasn't going to work either. And they could only watch so much Big Bang Theory in a row before the jokes became a bit repetitive. That left movie night in some pretty serious headache-inducing jeopardy.

And then Skye discovered Firefly. It was almost as if the show had been specifically created with the entire team in mind. There was the western element for Coulson, weaponry for Grant, comedy for May, tech for Leo, romance for Jemma, and plucky Captain Mal for Skye. By the end of the first episode it was already a smash hit with everyone. The series and its movie sequel quickly become common fare for team movie night. They also became the most quoted works on the Bus.

After one particularly hard Friday, the team found themselves sitting on the landing ramp sipping beers as they watched the sunset. (Team movie night didn't officially start until after the sun went down.)

"Look at that," Jemma said appreciatively. "It's so beautiful."

"You know," Leo said, looking over at her, "we saved the world today."

"We save the world every day," Jemma pointed out with a proud smile.

"What does that make us?" Coulson asked suddenly.

"Big damn heroes, sir," Skye said enthusiastically, shooting him a big grin. Grant chuckled at the reference and Fitzsimmons clinked their bottles together in a toast. May took a long sip of her beer before giving an appreciative nod.

"Ain't we just," she agreed.

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